Chapter 183 – Strange noble.

*Cough*

Mary covered her mouth with her hand while giving out an obvious fake coughing sound. Arthur looked to her and then back to Roland that had a confused look on his face. It took a few seconds for it to click but soon he did realize that he picked the wrong words.

“Ah, by ‘mine’ I meant that I wish you to become one of my retainers, of course.”

Arthur turned his head to the side, Roland could clearly see the young man blushing after making an awkward comment. While for any normal person being given an opportunity to work for a noble as a proper retainer was a big deal, for Roland it would not be anything that he desired.

The whole reason that he left the Arden estate was to be self-sufficient. Even in his previous life, he bounced around because of the whims of others. Parents, teachers, perhaps even the society that he was in, he felt as if he just followed a paved road that others just told him to tread on.

But as much as he wanted to refuse instantly he suppressed this urge. Arthur might have asked him to become a follower but this didn’t mean that he would be something similar to the maid or the guards outside. Instead, he could just be something more like an exclusive blacksmith that gains some rewards for prioritizing his lord’s orders.

Thus before he could make a decision, he needed to figure out the details of this deal. Roland had already gone through several contracts and was not against signing others depending on the deal. By this point in his life, he had already come to terms with this part of this world.

“You wish me to become one of your servants?”

“In short, yes but not quite what I had in mind, let me clarify. First of all, I’m aware of the problems you have faced, the dwarves and merchants must not have made it easy to survive in this city. But, even though they have tried you have managed to claw your way up!”

Roland looked to the noble that turned away from him and started monologuing about his achievements. It seemed that Arthur Valerian was impressed with what he was able to do in this short amount of time.

“And then there is this golem, it would be very disheartening if such a talented craftsman like you would be able to reach his full potential, thus I am willing to offer you an opportunity Mr. Wayland, become my personal blacksmith!”

“Personal Blacksmith?”

Roland parroted the statement of the lord as everything was moving fast. He was somewhat expecting to get some kind of offer but becoming the main smith of a lord was not that simple. It carried a degree of responsibility towards that noble, in some cases, these craftsmen could be accused of purposely making faulty equipment which could spell death for them.

If he was responsible for making some personal weapons, he would be also responsible if they broke during battle. Even if it broke for good reasons some nobles would take out their rage on these craftsmen, punishing them in various ways. So, while the title would probably be quite the boost to his prestige in the city, it would also carry with it some drawbacks.

“Oh, is it such a surprise? or are you dissatisfied with the offer?”

Arthur asked while also looking away from the magical glass that was showing him the auction house beneath. It would be somewhat rude for Roland to turn down the offer, thus he was not sure what he should do now. The person here could make things really difficult for him if their relationship turned sour.

“Well, my Lord…”

“Speak freely, I can clearly tell that you have some reservations, I would not force the position upon you, I realize that working for such an insignificant noble like me might not be something that such a young and aspiring Runesmith would want to do…”

“Uh, my lord?”

Roland raised his brow while looking at Arthur that for some reason was commenting about his own low birth. While he knew that the noble was probably a bastard son that was sent here to get rid of, it wasn’t confirmed before he spoke out.

“Lord Arthur, why did…”

The car girl that was listening on the side raised her voice after hearing the ‘insignificant’ part. She quickly stopped as Arthur raised his hand up though.

“It’s fine Mary, I’m not looking for mindless lackeys, it’s best if Mr. Wayland knows what he is getting himself into.”

Roland just looked between the two while not saying anything, during this whole conversation he wasn’t really able to give much of his own input. It did seem that this young man valued Roland quite a bit and the only reason that he could come up with, was a lack of power. Perhaps the one with the leverage here was not the lord but him instead.

While the noble continued to talk Roland noticed some oddities in his tone and mannerisms. Arthur seemed somewhat nervous when he tried to ask some questions and for some reason, he was being overly truthful.

At first, it looked like it would be some kind of negotiation between them but suddenly the young man dropped the noble act. It was as if he wasn’t looking for an employee but a partner instead.

It also didn’t seem as if this noble had a good opinion of himself as he continued to talk down about his own standing. He was somewhat getting emotional as well, it was as if Roland was a piece of wood that he was trying to cling to after his ship had sunk.

“Excuse me my Lord… can I be frank?”

Finally, Roland gathered up some courage after hearing the man blunder about without getting to the point of it all. After the question, Arthur just nodded his head before he finally sat back down on his chair.

“Please go ahead.”

“I am not interested in becoming a part of any noble house. I am still in training, I’m also part of the adventurers guild which does take up much of my time, I don’t think I would be able to continue bettering my craft if I settle down as a personal blacksmith.”

Roland replied quickly, for normal craftsmen it was probably the ticket out of poverty. The nobles would supply them with materials and they could just craft away while progressing further with their craft.

Bettering himself as a runesmith was only a part of his future plans, this also included gaining levels and being able to protect himself from others with his own two hands. For that, he needed to fight monsters and create new items for that purpose.

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“But… I am willing to hear your offer, I’m sure we can work something out. The lord already knows my situation with the dwarves and how they organized my removal from this auction house.”

Arthur nodded.

“Ah, yes the dwarves, of course, you will be free to present your wares to the public at my auction house, I wanted to save it for later but it does seem that you have made up your mind Mr. Wayland.”

Arthur moved his hand towards his desk and brought out a small stack of papers. At first, Roland thought it was just another contract but after seeing the first page he noticed that it wasn’t his name that was on it, but it was Elodia’s.

“I see that you are surprised, I hope that it won’t sour our relationship but my people have looked into your personal matters.”

“These are… papers for the Orphanage?”

What he was looking at now were documents that stated that Elodia could keep the orphanage that she had bought a couple of years ago.

“Yes, the city official that signed off on the inspection has been removed from his position, he had been clearly taking bribes and didn’t cover his tracks well enough.”

This wasn’t all as besides them he also received a permit to sell items in the auction house. There was even a special card that was similar to the adventurer card which would give him some special privileges.

“Is this a golden supplier card?”

“I see that I want need to explain then, yes this was part of the offerings I wished to hand to you Mr. Wayland.”

The golden supplier card opened up the auction house to anyone having it. People with it wouldn’t need to bother with waiting in line, they could drop off their wares whenever they wanted. They would also pay smaller fees for their wares which sometimes went up to 30%.

Now with those two gifts presented Roland wasn’t sure what to do. Would Arthur snatch them away, he really wanted to help Elodia with the orphanage. If he stayed on Arthur’s bad side he could easily reinstate the old inspector and do the whole thing again.

But if he joined him, the merchants in the city would probably get the message that Roland had some backing. While he couldn’t force them to sell materials to him directly, he could indirectly pressure them in other ways.

Just like that, one city official gave a bogus inspection to Elodia’s orphanage, so could he order the same. The dwarves might find themselves with their materials being held up for many weeks by the guards.

Normally a city lord would not go against the dwarven union as they were paying a lot in tax money. But if he could somewhat replace them with his own people, then he would. Back in Edelgard, there was one bloodthirsty noble in particular that went with that option.